After the Sleeper Woke Up
by Siobahn
Summary: This story involves Mirai Trunks and a Saiya-jin character of my own. I'm not sure if I rated it right, but oh well. Read and review, please, but this is my first fanfic, so be gentle. No flames.
1. Default Chapter

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" -Chapter One **After the Sleeper Woke Up**   


_Note: This story takes place in the time of Mirai Trunks. I don't own Dragon Ball Z, so don't sue me. I have nothing worth taking. ^.^_   


**_Chapter One_**

The structure he looked down on was huge and bulbous. Moss and other kinds of foliage had overgrown it, threatening to claim it as part of the forest, but the basic shape remained. He'd never have known it was there except for the boys that came and told his mom about it. He'd volunteered to investigate. He ignored the lavender strands of hair the wind blew across his eyes and flew down to the ground, landing lightly on his feet.   
The outer hull of the ship was metallic reddish brown with patches of dull rust scattered across it. Trunks wasn't sure what kind of metal it was, but he was pretty sure it wasn't used on Earth. It had to have been there for years. There was no other way it could have been so overgrown.   
He moved around it, looking for a way to get inside. He finally found a gap in the outer hull and squeezed through, then clicked on the flashlight he'd thought to bring with him. The sudden brightness of it against the blackness inside made him blink.   
The interior was moist, and the scent of rusty, decaying metal and mold hung in the hair. He winced and decided to make this a short trip. He wasn't sure how much mold was in the air, but he did know that too much made it unsafe to even breathe.   
A long corridor stretched to one side of him. He shone the flashlight around into the gloom and found that there were numerous cells, each with metal bars fixed into the ceiling and floor, but most of the doors were broken or melted. A prison?   
He couldn't find anyone or anything there, so he continued on, taking another shorter hallway after pushing open a pair of warped metal doors. Here reddish brown curved plates of varying sizes littered the floor every few paces. They made a peculiar hollow sound when he dared to push one with his toe. Trunks continued on, picking his way carefully through them, trying not to make too much noise.   
He entered several smaller rooms along the way, and noticed some odd looking devices in them. In one were the remnants of what might have been an arm. That was what the bones looked like, anyway. He didn't spend long in these rooms, but looked instead for a control room of some kind, wanting to find out what had happened here.   
Less than five minutes later, he was in it. More of the curved plates littered the floor, more in piles now than before. Broken glass and metal crunched underfoot, and he understood why a moment later. What had probably been the main computer was destroyed. It looked as if it had been burned, or at least that it had happened after the main destruction, and it had exploded at some point in time. There was no hope of using it to find out what had happened to the ship. He turned to go when something caught his eye.   
A cylindrical tank stood in one corner of the room, tilted to an angle. It was coated in dust, but as he stepped closer he could hear the low hum of a machine. This tank must have had its own power source, then. Trunks lifted one hand, and after a moment of hesitation, he brushed some of the dust away from the glassy surface of the tank.   
The inside was filled with some kind of greenish liquid, and seemed to glow slightly. Settled silently in this liquid was a dark haired girl that looked around his age, if not even a little younger. His eyes widened in surprise and he stepped back, then turned and ran back to the place he'd come in. He had to get his mother. He knew his she'd want to see this. 


	2. Chapter Two

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Two **_Chapter Two_**

"This way, Mom," Trunks said, leading the way back through the ship to the control room. They'd brought better light this time, something more like a lantern than a flashlight. A few of the curved plates crunched and shattered under Bulma's feet as she took a wrong step, but so far nothing worse had happened. She hoped it stayed that way.   
"There was something in the tank?" she asked as she followed him, trying to be more quiet, but finding it nearly impossible. The ship was foreboding enough from the outside, but inside it could be almost suffocating. She'd seen the cells, and she was sure she'd even seen a few bones among the rubble on the floor. Now, like her son, she was beginning to think this might have been a prison ship.   
"Yeah. I don't know if she was still alive or not, but I thought you'd want to see it anyway." The two of them entered what she presumed to be the control room. There was a large screen to one side, dust covered and cracked, and below that was the destroyed panel. Even with her technical knoeledge, it looked hopeless. She sighed and looked around, then went to the tank where Trunks stood.   
"See?" he asked. He had a handkerchief out and was busily scrubbing off some of the thick dust that had settled onto the glass. She could see that there was, indeed, a girl inside of it. She had dark hair, and something about the sharp angle of her features looked vaguely familiar. Trunks continued his work, trying to uncover anything else inside that might be important. Bulma's eyes were drawn to the bloody gash in the girl's midsection. She leaned a little closer to look at it. . . no, not just a gash, a _hole_. She winced, then her gaze caught on something else. Around the girl's waist was wrapped something fuzzy and brown. A tail.   
Bulma gasped. "A Saiya-jin?"   
Trunks looked up, then blinked, seeming to see the girl in full for the first time. "What? I thought there weren't any full blooded Saiya-jins left."   
"So did I, but that's what she looks like." Bulma went to the tanks controls and dusted them off. Much of it was in another language, but she was able to decipher that the girl was still, technically, alive. There was a heart rate monitor, though the pulse was very slow, only a couple beats a minute, and the breathing monitor showed much the same. "And she seems to be alive, too."   
He stood up straight and looked at the girl in the tank for a moment, then the controls. "I wonder how long she's been here."   
"I don't know, but I think it's lucky that this thing uses it's own power source," Bulma said, gesturing to the tank. An idea struck suddenly, and she went with it. "Feeling adventurous?"   
"Huh?" He looked at her for a moment, then caught her meaning. "You mean you want to wake her up?"   
"Well, not yet I don't think. I think this might be a suspended animation tank. I was thinking that we could build a regeneration tank and put her in that to heal that wound, then wake her up. Who knows, Trunks. If she is a Saiya-jin, you might be able to learn something from her. Or the other way around. It just seems cruel to leave her here. We don't know if she did anything to deserve it, and if she did. . .Well, chances are you can beat her, anyway."   
"I hope you aren't being too optimistic about this, Mom," he said. "Move it if you want, but I want to be there every step of the way, just in case."   



	3. Chapter Three

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Three **_Chapter Three_**

The tank hummed away in the lab in Capsule Corp. One small crew had set about the task of cleaning it up enough so that all the components could clearly be seen, then Bulma had done some work with it herself. She even managed to put a translator on it so she could figure out more about it.   
She found that she had been right. It was a suspended animation tank, and by the information in the tank's logs, the Saiya-jin female had been in there for a little over 30 years. Bulma wondered if the girl had ever, even once, woke up and found herself in that liquid filled tank. . . though from inside, she thought it probably looked more like a coffin.   
You're being morbid, Bulma thought, and turned back to the regeneration tank.   
It stood along one wall, and looked much like a Saiya-jin regeneration tank, though bigger. There was a panel for controls to one side, and monitors for everything; heart rate, breathing, oxygen levels, brain waves, everything she could think of. The front of the actual tank was made of thick layers of supposedly shatter proof glass (though it had never been tested against a Saiya-jin), and to either side of the tank stood metal air tanks. There was a drain in the bottom of the tank, and a sliding metal disk panel that would slide over to cover it when the tank was actually in use. Inside was an oxygen mask. . . and restraints.   
Trunks was supposed to be there in a minute. He wanted to be there to help move the girl, and to make sure she didn't wake up blasting. Bulma fingered the little bottle of fluid she held nervously. All she had to do was give the girl an injection of it. First, though, they had to get her out. It didn't seem like a big deal in theory, so why was it making her so nervous?   
Her son walked in a minute later, and looked at the girl in the tank for a second before asking, "Ready?"   
"As ready as I'm going to be," she said, and went to the controls. She drained the fluid from the tank first, and Trunks opened the door. The girl didn't stir at all; she slid down a little without the support of the fluid, and looked quite dead. Bulma carefully removed the tube from her nose and gave her an injection of the drug that was supposed to revive her. Then they waited.   
The girl finally stirred a little. She gave a little groan, her eyelids fluttered, and the hole in her middle started to ooze blood. Nothing else, then. "Let's get her in the other tank," Bulma said. Trunks nodded and picked the girl up, then carried her over the tank where Bulma waited to hook her up to the equipment.   
Soon the girl was suspended in the fluid filled tank. She still hadn't opened her eyes or given any real signs of being conscious, but she was breathing well (or as well as she could with a hole through her stomach), and her pulse was strong. The regeneration tank hummed softly as it did its work, but otherwise there was no sound. Bulma and Trunks stood still, watching it for a moment before Bulma noticed something.   
"Hey. . .What is that?" Bulma took a step closer to the tank, peering into it. The light sparked and danced on something on a chain around the girl's neck. A crystal or a gem? It wavered now and again in the fluid as the girl drew breath, but Bulma could see the basic shape. It was tapered from the top and pointed on one end, and crystal clear, but something in the way it caught the light made it shine many different colors, never the same color twice. It was beautiful, and the only really fine looking thing the girl wore. Funny, she wouldn't have thought to find a Saiya-jin wearing something pretty like that. She hadn't thought it would fit in in the rough and tumble world of the Saiya-jin race.   
"How long do you think it will take?" Trunks asked.   
"I don't know. Maybe a few days, maybe a week or more. I really don't have any way of telling right now." Bulma stepped back and looked at the girl for a moment. "I just hope she isn't hostile when she wakes up."   
"Me either."   



	4. Chapter Four

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Four **_Chapter Four_**

The first sensation was pain. This wasn't just ordinary pain. It was the pain that seared and melted flesh from bone, the kind of pain that either paralyzes or twists and writhes. It was torture.   
It seemed it had started in her belly and spread outward in scalding ripples, spreading through and over her flesh. It snapped her to sudden startling awareness, and even the act of opening her eyes and drawing that first, gasping breath was a torment. There was something over her nose and mouth, and that hurt too. It pressed against her burning skin and clung to her face when she thrashed her head. Her arms were outstretched to either side of her, and her hands were restrained, but all it took was a few hard pulls to get them free, and likewise with her feet. She tore the thing on her face off and started to thrash around, then realized that she was in liquid of some kind. It was so hot, and felt like it was burning her skin off. She was submerged in it. With that realization, she started to thrash and beat on the torture chamber she was in, trying to beat her way out.   
Finally, through the bubbles that hissed from the monstrous thing that had clung to her face, she saw a clear panel in front of her, and set her sights on that. Of course it would be reinforced somehow, but she intended on getting out of here one way or another. Her lungs burned worse for lack of air, her limbs felt weak and shook terribly, but she still managed a small energy blast directly to the window. It cracked, then exploded outward, spilling the burning fluid and the Saiya-jin inside out onto the floor.   
She gasped and lifted her head to look around, then climbed shakily to her feet. There wasn't anyone in the room right now. A second to catch her breath then, and take stock of her injuries. Surely she must have been missing the top layer of her skin. She blinked dazedly at the skin of her hands and arms, damp from the liquid and stained red from numerous cuts and scratches. _It was eating my skin away_, she thought wildly. She had to get out before they tried something worse.   
The door swung open, and there stood one of the guards, framed in the doorway. It was one of the guards, but he was different. He wasn't wearing the reddish brown armor that all the others had worn. He wasn't controlled by the parasites. . . or was he? He blinked at her and took a step toward her, hands held up and out a little, as if to show he was unarmed. She knew better, though, and she wasn't going to give him a chance to get his hands on her.   
She ran straight for him, surprisingly nimble. He shouted something and ducked low at the last moment, which was what she was hoping for. She dove over him and into the hallway beyond, but there wasn't enough room for her to tuck and roll. She tucked her legs and arms in, but hit the wall outside hard. It knocked the breath out of her, but she growled and skittered away on her hands and knees, and stumbled eventually back to her feet. The guard was yelling for reinforcements all the time, and saying something in a language she couldn't comprehend. She figured he was lying to her, telling her that he wouldn't hurt her, nonsense like that.   
She wouldn't have believed a word of it even if she'd understood it.   
She half ran, half stumbled further down the hall, and wondered what the floor was made out of. It was too spongy for her to stand right on. She bumped into the wall with her shoulder as she rounded a corner, then seemed to get her feet on firmer ground. She broke into a run then, racing through the ranks of other guards. They even parted to let her through.   
The shouting of the first guard continued, and she could swear she could hear him behind her.   
Then she was on the floor again, pinned below a greater weight.   
"Let me go, you bastard!" she screamed, lashing out with kicks and trying to twist around to be able to use her hands to direct a blast at him. He said something else she couldn't understand, a shout, then she heard him gasp as she landed a good hit to his stomach. She struggled out from under him and tried to get to her feet, but he grabbed her by the ankle and jerked hard, dragging her down to the floor.   
He was smarter this time. Apparently the creatures could learn, because he pinned her face down with his shin hard on the back of her knees to keep her from kicking, and her hands behind her back with one hand, his other on her neck to keep her from lifting her head. She still wiggled and cursed and swore at him, spitting threats of what she'd do when she got loose. Then something pricked the bend of her arm, and her body started to feel heavy. It grew worse, everything growing still heavier and heavier, until she couldn't even open her mouth to speak. At least it put out the fire roaring through her, she thought faintly as her heavy eyelids drifted shut.   



	5. Chapter Five

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Five **_Chapter Five_**

"Is she nuts or what?" Bulma asked as she tossed the used needle into a trash can, and looked at the remaining sedative in the little bottle. It had taken nearly half of it to quite the Saiya-jin, and Bulma only hoped she wouldn't have to use the rest on her soon.   
"I don't know. Do you think it's possible she had a fever? Maybe she woke up in the tank hallucinating and freaked out," Trunks said. He was standing in the doorway, frowning as he looked at the Saiya-jin female. Her cheeks were paler now, no longer flushed. It was hard to believe she was the wild-eyed girl he'd walked into the lab to find standing amid broken glass. She'd looked like a trapped animal that saw no way out except through him.   
"Maybe. I don't know what we'll do if we get a repeat performance of it, though." Bulma sighed and set the sedative and several needles on the night stand beside the bed where the Saiya-jin slept. She looked rather peaceful in sleep, with only the occasional flicker of an eyelid to show she might have been dreaming. Her breathing was deep and slow and steady, and her pulse had seemed strong when Bulma checked it. Her tail was still wrapped safely around her waist, and the hole was nearly gone. All that really remained was an impression in her flesh, and the top layer of skin on her back and belly. Bulma had bandaged it up, and debated whether or not to put her on an intravenous flow of the sedative, then decided against it. Instead, she and Trunks rigged up some heavy metal restraints to put her in, and a heavy metal door with a lock on the outside. Bulma didn't believe that would hold a Saiya-jin for long, but at least it might give them some warning when and if she _did_ escape.   
"We'll do what we always do, Mom. We'll take care of it." Trunks shrugged and walked out, and Bulma followed him. He pushed the door shut and threw the big iron lock into place.   



	6. Chapter Six

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Six **_Chapter Six_**

Bulma stopped worked at the computer for a break. She pulled off her glasses and set them aside, then rubbed at her eyes with a sigh. "Bulma, girl, you're going to have to start getting out more often," she whispered to herself. She wheeled her chair back and stood up, meaning to go for a cup of coffee, but there, right in her lab, stood the Saiya-jin female.   
She was leaning nonchalantly against one of the tables, her arms folded across her chest, head turned to look at Bulma. Her hair stuck up at angles, probably sticky from the fluid she'd been submerged in while she'd been in the regeneration tank, and Bulma was willing to bet that her clothing was probably much the same. She wore it like royalty though, and stood like she had every right in the world to be there. Like she hadn't destroyed the regeneration tank just a day before and tried to escape.   
"Trunks!" Bulma shouted, then screamed it again.   
Trunks skidded into the lab, then stopped at the sight of the Saiya-jin. He blinked at her and assumed a fighting stance. "How did you get out?" he asked.   
She glanced at him as if unconcerned with the question, then looked back at Bulma. "Well, how nice," she said. "Now there are two of you to answer my questions." She spoke in a conversational tone, as if there weren't an underlying threat there. _Tell me what I want to know, or else._   
Trunks and Bulma shared a glance. This behavior was altogether different from the last. Maybe she had been running a fever after all. "What do you want to know?" he asked.   
The Saiya-jin female looked at him, then turned her head to look at Bulma. Then she smoothly straightened from her lean on the table and moved to a wall and leaned against it, settling at an angle where she could see both Trunks and Bulma._ Guess she doesn't want either of us at her back_, Bulma thought.   
"First of all, who are you two, where am I, and how did I get here?"   
"My name is Bulma, and that's my son Trunks. We found you by chance in a ship that crashed some time ago, and brought you here. Do you know what happened to your ship?"   
"Wasn't my ship." The Saiya-jin seemed faintly amused at this.   
"Then whose ship was it?"   
"It was a parasitic ship. I don't know who it belonged to, if anyone. I wasn't awake when it crashed."   
"Oh." Bulma looked at Trunks, feeling a little at a loss as to what to say next.   
"Are you really a Saiya-jin?" he asked with no hesitation. There was a strange intensity in his eyes as he spoke.   
She looked at him and arched a brow, the first real change in her face that had happened yet. "Yes."   
"But how? The planet was destroyed a long time ago. Vegeta and Goku were the last Saiya-jins. Trunks is supposed to be the last now, if you count half-blooded."   
The girl looked at him, something odd in her face. Surprise? "You're half Saiyajin?"   
Trunks nodded. "Vegeta was my father."   
Now she seemed even more amused than every. "What do you know. The son of the great Prince Vegeta." She spoke the last three words with a little sarcasm. "Yes, I'm well aware that Vegeta-sei was destroyed. However, no one should _ever_ count themselves the last of any given race. I suppose your father was forgetting that Saiya-jin children were often sent on missions to other planets. Some never returned, and were presumed lost or dead, as I suppose I was."   
"What's your name?" Bulma asked.   
The girl fixed her with grey eyes, and seemed to weigh her for a moment. "Endive. I want to see the ship."   
"I don't think you're in any condition to go yet. You've only been out of the suspension tank for a little over a week, and out of the regeneration tank for a day. I don't think it will hurt you to rest a little more," Bulma said.   
Endive looked at him for a moment, her top lip curled a little in a sneer. "Don't mother me, woman. I couldn't have been in the suspension tank for that long. I want to see the damned ship."   
"You were in it for over thirty years, Endive," Trunks said quietly.   
The Saiya-jin looked at him, and was quiet for a moment as it sank in. "Thirty years," she murmured. Her hand went to her belly, to the spot where the hole through her stomach had been. She was still wearing the same clothes she'd been in since they brought her there. There was a hole through the dark green jumpsuit in the front and back, both spots nearly even. She hadn't taken off the bandage Bulma had put on her. That showed she had some sense, at least.   
"Yeah, that long," Bulma said. "So what's another day, Endive?"   
"Another day is just that," the Saiya-jin replied with a stubbornness Bulma was beginning to think was typical of the race. "But I want to see the damn ship _today_."   
Endive and Bulma argued over this for a few more minutes. Finally Bulma agreed, but only on certain conditions. Endive had to eat and shower first, and take Trunks with her. Endive grumbled about it, but finally agreed.   



	7. Chapter Seven

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Seven **_Chapter Seven_**

Trunks couldn't help but notice that she was actually rather pretty clean.   
Endive was about medium height, and she was slender and made of up lean muscle. Her figure was a little more boyish than buxom, but there was no mistaking her for a boy. She had a natural light tan and dark lips, and this went well with her short, black silver tipped hair. Her eyes were long and slanted, stormy silver grey in color, and her features were sharp and triangular, with a delicacy to them that made them pretty. Exotic, to say the least.   
She sat down wordlessly after her shower and started eating the food Bulma had prepared for her. She had a good appetite, and was quick at eating, though not messy in the least. He didn't see one grain of the rice out of place.   
Endive noticed him looking at her after a moment and lifted her brows at him in inquiry.   
"You don't remember what you did to the tank, do you?" he asked.   
She stared at him blankly, chewing slowly, apparently waiting for him to elaborate.   
"We put you in a regeneration tank so you could heal. You broke out and tried to escape. Do you remember that at all?"   
"No." She took a mouthful of rice. He continued to look at her, then she shrugged and said, "What? Nothing I can do about it now."   
"Yeah, I guess not." He propped his chin on his hand and studied her for a minute before asking, "What were you doing on a parasitic ship?"   
"They captured my ship and made the error of thinking they'd make me one of them."   
"I see."   
There was a long minute of silence. She had slowed quite a lot in her eating, seeming more thoughtful now than hungry. "Is your father still alive?"   
He was a little taken back by the question. He hadn't expected it so soon. "Um. . . No. He was killed in a battle years ago. Almost all of the great fighters on Earth were."   
"Earth. So that's the name of this place, is it?"   
"Yeah."   
"And you're presumably the only Saiya-jin left on this planet. Besides me, for the moment."   
"Yeah."   
"Mmm." Endive finished eating, then wiped her hands and stood up. The clothes Bulma had lent her were a good enough fit, if a little long in places. "I want to go to the ship. Now."   



	8. Chapter Eight

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Eight **_Chapter Eight_**

Endive's face was stony when she saw the ship for the first time. She felt surprise, but not much more. She hadn't liked the ship, after all, and had no emotional ties to it. Not that she really developed emotional ties anyway.   
The young half-Saiya-jin led her in through a gash in the hull. She supposed it happened when the ship crashed, or maybe there was a battle of some kind that led to the ship crashing. Either way, it didn't matter to her.   
Trunks lingered a little behind her, looking out of place and unsure of what he should do. Of course he is, Endive thought with mild amusement. For all that he knows, the next time he opens his mouth I could explode. It wasn't a possibility to put beyond a female Saiya-jin. If you encountered the usual male and thought he was bad, you hadn't met a female.   
But Endive was quite a bit more mellow than the normal Saiya-jin female, and knew it.   
Much of it came from growing up _away_ from other Saiya-jins. She'd only had one other creature for company, and as she grew, some of what she had been taught as a very young child faded a bit. It was still there, of course, but not so deeply ingrained that it couldn't be overcome and ignored. Arrogant she could be, but she was also a realist and knew her own limitations.   
She didn't hesitate to kick the reddish brown plates out of her path when she walked. They couldn't hurt her, and she knew it.   
"What are those, anyway?" Trunks finally asked. He was trying not to step on them, she noticed.   
"The husks of dead creatures," she said absently. She was looking about herself, using the flash light that Bulma had given her to look up. The top of hull had been colonized by wispy webs with insects in them, and there even a few furry brown creatures hanging upside down there. They didn't concern her, though, so she turned her attention back to the area around them.   
She placed her hand on a wall and gave a hard push. It gave way beneath her hand with a loud, hollow _crunch_. The ship is no longer alive, she realized. Whether it was from the crash, or something about the alien atmosphere, it was quite thoroughly dead. Their footsteps were hollow, and she was glad the husk was thick enough to support their weight.   
" 'Dead creatures?' " he echoed softly.   
Endive let her hand fall back to her side, then with a dramatic sigh kicked a few more of the plates out of the way and strolled on towards the control room. "Yes, dead creatures. The remains of parasitic armor, to be exact. The damn parasites were soldiers of the ship. Mindless workmen that took orders from the ship itself, which was also the host of a parasite. The prisoners that were on here were probably meant to be used as hosts for more parasites."   
"Did you help the prisoners, or blast everybody?" There was something almost accusatory in his tone. Endive stopped in her stride down the corridor to the control room and looked at him. She shined her light directly in his face and put her hand on her hip.   
"You'd better be glad I'm not your usual Saiya-jin, or I might have blown your ass away for that remark. The only creatures I killed at that particular time were the main computer and the people infested with parasites." She turned and walked away, fuming, but not because he had the audacity to ask her that question. She was angry because it had struck a nerve, somehow.   
There was the hollow clatter and crunch of the remaining armor at her back as Trunks took a few long running strides to catch up. Endive kept walking.   
In a moment the lavender haired boy was walking just a little behind her. She could feel the hesitation in the air before he spoke. "How'd you get wounded like that?"   
"An error in judgment," she answered smoothly, pushing aside a piece of armor with her toe as she entered the control room. The room seemed smaller than she remembered it, and it looked odd without the suspension tank. She went to the control panel first and pressed a few buttons, but got no response. Endive had hoped it might work for a few minutes, at least. Though she wouldn't admit it to Trunks, she did want to find out why this ship crashed, and if someone she knew had been on board at the time.   
She heaved a silent sigh and turned from the control panel. The bright beam of the flashlight scanned over the walls and floor as she shone it around. The Saiya-jin had the sense of looking for something, but not knowing what. Trunks stood at the entrance way of the control room, watching what she did. Endive ignored him and walked around the room, kicking the shards of the armor around, looking at the dusty floor.   
Finally, near the only real clear spot in the room, the spot where the suspension tank had stood, she spotted the glimmer of metal. She crouched down and picked up the dusty little lump of metal, cupped it in her palm, angled her flash light to see it more clearly, then blew on it in an effort to remove more dust from it.   
Endive finally had to tuck the light under her arm, which cast a shadow over her hand, and use her other hand to brush some of the dirt off of it. The flashlight slipped out from under her arm and struck the floor, then went dead.   
She cursed and waved Trunks over with one hand. "Come here, and hold the light." He did so without a word, and when he got closer, she could see that he was curious about what she held.   
The Saiya-jin got enough of the dust off for the basic shape to be seen. It was a crescent shaped pendant suspended from a ropey chain. Both objects were made of a strange silvery blue metal, and the pendant was thick and heavy. Endive stared at it for a moment before she suspended the chain from one hand, then, with her other, pressed gently on both ends of the curve. There was a light click.   
A soft tune began to play, one that oddly reminded her of crystals being tapped in a gentle rhythm, made to resonate in a strange, beautiful harmony. A low hum lay under this, and after a few seconds a light shot out of the center of the crescent. Displayed on one of the dusty walls was an image of a planet.   
It appeared thickly forested and green where it wasn't blue, with expanses of white at the poles. It was beautiful and gave the overall impression of peace and prosperity.   
"Wow," Trunks said quietly. Endive almost jumped. She'd forgotten he was there. "Who do you think it belonged to?"   
"Someone I used to know," she replied thoughtfully. Yes, she remembered him well. His name had been Amian. She'd met him on this very ship, in fact. He had been one of the dozen of so that she'd been stuffed into a cell with. He hadn't been there long; unlike nearly everyone else she came into contact with, he hadn't lost his taste for rebellion. The two of them had been fast friends. . . and might have eventually become more if given time. Endive didn't like admitting this even to herself, but it was true.   
Amian had been the one to put her in the suspension tank after the parasite had punched a hole through her stomach. He had been the one that told her that Vegeta-sei had been destroyed by Frieza. He had been the one that she formulated plans for escape with. It hadn't worked as planned, of course, but little ever does go according to plan.   
He was an Ikomian. If the rest of the race followed his example, then most of them were tall and lean, with generally iridescent white skin, violet hair and startling green eyes. Of course, he had been particularly beautiful, too, so perhaps not.   
But was he on the ship when it crashed? she wondered. She pressed the ends of the curve again, shutting the pendant off. She pocketed it and picked up her flash light and turned it on, then set about looking for evidence that he might have died with the rest.   
"Now I'm looking for a skeleton. I know that doesn't help much, but if you find any that look whole and aren't stuck to the parasite husks, tell me." Endive started to scour the floor once again, looking for anything. A wisp of violet hair, a scrap of clothing, anything that might tell her something as to the whereabouts of her old friend.   
The two of them searched for hours and came up empty. There were no skeletons that weren't connected to the armor, no full ones anyway. She had expected to find some in the torture chamber, but most of those weren't right. The bones were far too thick or too large to have any place at all in the slender Ikomian's build.   
It was after dark outside when they gave up and returned to Capsule Corp. Endive wasn't in the best of moods, either, but she didn't think Amian died on the ship. If he was alive, she wanted to try and find him, and had a very good idea of where to look. All she had to do was get there. 


	9. Chapter Nine

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Nine **_Chapter Nine_**

"You want me to build you a ship?" Bulma asked. She was staring at the Saiya-jin wide eyed, as if it were the strangest thing she'd ever heard.   
"You _can_ do that, can't you? I would think that if you're capable of constructing a regeneration tank that you could build a space ship." Endive stood with her arms folded, back straight, staring hard at Bulma.   
Bulma scowled at her, growing defensive at the faintest hint of an insult to her intelligence. "Of course I can! But why do you need it? Are you leaving so soon?"   
Endive's eyes glimmered a bit in amusement. "That eager to get rid of me? Actually, I want to look someone up. But I have to find him first. I need the ship to do that."   
"I'm up for a challenge. How soon do you need it?"   
"How soon can you build it?   
"A few weeks, maybe a month after the initial planning."   
"Good. As soon as it can be done, but don't skip little details." Endive turned and walked away.   
Bulma went to a table and sat down, propping her head on her hand. Why did it seem like most of the really big projects came from Saiya-jins? 

* * * * * * * * * * Endive had been surprised to learn that Trunks had already reached the point of going Super Saiya-jin. He seemed too young for it, but there he was, standing there before her. She'd watched his short lavender hair spike up and turn golden, and the golden aura erupt around him. This seemed punctuated with a lot of screaming and yelling, as if it were painful. She wondered if it indeed was a bit painful, or if he did this simply to help channel the energy it took.   
He was a powerhouse. She wasn't even standing that close to him, but still the power crawled and rippled over her skin, and seemed like a heavy weight inside her head when compared to her own. She wasn't that powerful, not yet. In truth, before she'd been captured by the parasitic ship, she'd never been in a true fight before, one where her life was really at stake. Before it had always been spars, dangerous spars, but spars all the same. The worst that would happen was that she might have a few broken bones and a lot of bruises. But this was the kind of power that one could gain in a fight.   
This was the kind of power that also had a high cost. She didn't know how she knew that, but she did. Maybe she'd ask him about the cost, sometime.   
Through all of these thoughts, her face remained still, stony. She stood with her arms folded, staring icily at him, showing nothing. She was impressed, very much so, in fact. She wasn't sure if she envied him that power or not. She did hope to achieve that power herself, but she wasn't pushing for it at the moment. She would spar with Trunks, perfect her techniques and push for new levels of power, but not torture herself. There was a fine line between the two.   
Trunks fixed her with an equally hard stare. She noticed that his eyes had turned blue green. It seemed he was waiting for something. She tipped her head back as she studied him, then nodded lightly. "A great accomplishment, I'm sure, for one so young." Her voice was as cool as her demeanor.   
"You're about my age," he said.   
"In appearance only. I'm actually over thirty years older, and you know it," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.   
The glow from around him faded. His hair returned to its normal color and fell around his handsome face, and his eyes returned to their normal deep ocean blue. "So you haven't gone Super Saiya-jin yet, eh?"   
"No," she said blithely. "The need has never really arisen for me to do so."   
"My father was obsessed with it, according to my mother."   
"That power hungry, was he?"   
"He wanted to be the best." Trunks shrugged.   
"I see. Did he ever accomplish it?"   
"Not in this time, no."   
"What?"   
"Long story."   
"Ah." Endive sat down on the ground and rolled up the cuffs of the pants she wore. She didn't really like these clothes. They were too loose in places and a bit too long. She didn't like skin tight clothing, but something that fit a little closer to her shape would have suited her well.   
It was nearly dark. She and Trunks had spent most of the day sparring, and what she hadn't spent sparring and training, she was watching the work done on the ship. The construction seemed to be going only quite well, and Endive knew it wouldn't be that long until she could leave. She was pleased with it.   
Trunks sat down a few feet away, and tipped his head back to look up at the sky. It was fading from blue to twilight blue and the colors of sunset. She didn't say anything to him. She didn't have anything worth saying. Trunks, however, seemed to have taken up the habit she'd seen most humans with. Talking about whatever struck his mind, and saying obvious things.   
He said something obvious now. "The sunset is beautiful." Endive made some noncommittal sound. She never really understood why humans felt the need to say such things. Beauty was all a matter of perspective, really. What was beautiful to one might not have been so to another. She wondered whether it was a habit or a need for humans.   
He'd been trying to make friends. She realized it for the first time earlier that day. While Endive wasn't too adverse to the thought of having friends, she didn't want to form any kind of emotional bonds, not really. When the ship was done, she was leaving, and chances were good that she wasn't coming back to Earth.   
They sat still and silent until the last sunlight faded from the sky. The stars came out and filled the sky with little pinpricks of light. Endive noticed that this planet didn't seem to have a moon.   
"Space is beautiful, isn't it?" Trunks asked at last. It seemed he felt the need to fill the quiet with idle chatter.   
"I suppose. Why not find out for yourself?" she asked absently.   
There was a minute of silence, then Trunks turned and looked at her, something in his face hopeful. She looked at him with an arched brow, then realized what she was seeing. He must have thought she offered to take him with her. She opened her mouth to speak, a snide remark already forming on her tongue, but he beat her to it.   
"Do you really think I could?" There was such hope in that it nearly gagged her. She wanted to say something scathing but. . . as much as she hated to admit it, she liked the kid. She nearly laughed to think that she thought of him as a "kid." To anyone that met them on the street, they would have looked the same age.   
So burst his bubble and deal with the disappointment, or let him take a trip and see how he liked it? She went with the second choice. She didn't believe that his mother would actually let him go anyway.   
Endive shrugged as if not concerned with it at all. "I don't see why you couldn't. . . that is, if you mommy will let you."   
It was difficult to even take jabs at Trunks. He was too good-natured to rise to the bait and argue with her. Endive hadn't decided if it was a good or bad thing.   
The half-Saiya-jin seemed to think about it for a minute before he nodded. "I don't see how she could stop me, really."   
"Don't be so certain. Your mother seems to be the type to use guilt trips, if need be."   
"She can try, but I want to see it. She's seen it, and I want to, too." He nodded, seemingly setting his mind to this. Then he blinked at her as apparently something else came to mind. "That is. . . unless you don't intend on coming back."   
Endive was silent for a long minute, considering how to word her reply "I don't know. If I don't, then we'll find a way to get you home." She did owe Bulma that much, she supposed.   
Another silence, then: "Do you know where you're going?" asked Trunks.   
Endive drew a long breath, seeming to consider before she spoke. "I have an idea of where to look. A planet called Ikomia. I just have to find it first. That will be the difficult part."   
He nodded. "You do realize that I could be gone for a long time, don't you? Perhaps more than a year?"   
"Yeah, I do. I've been gone a long time before, though, and I've probably been in more danger. You aren't planning on getting involved in any wars in space, are you?"   
"No, not at the moment."   
"Good." 


	10. Chapter Ten

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Ten **_Chapter Ten_**

The controls were easy enough to manage, Endive noticed. She tipped her head to the side as she studied the control panel on the ship, listening with half an ear to the conversation Bulma was having with Trunks.   
"I'll be fine, Mom," he was saying. "She said that even if she doesn't come back, she'll still find a way to send me home. Don't worry. I've been in more danger before." There was pleading in his voice that made Endive smirk. He would feel guilty if his mother worried about him. She found it absolutely hilarious.   
"Okay, but _don't_ let her get you into trouble. At least, none that you could get hurt in." Bulma's voice was tense, then she raised it a little. Endive knew she was directing the next remark towards her, too. "I just want you to be careful, and take care of yourself. If you have trouble or need anything, don't hesitate to call me." The Saiya-jin arched a brow. What could they possibly need once they left?   
She still wasn't altogether sure how she'd ended up taking the boy with her. She'd said something about him finding out for himself, and it seemed he invited himself along. Wonderful. However, she was sure he'd have his uses. If they did get into trouble, his Super Saiya-jin power would come in handy. . . provided he didn't blow a hole in the side of the ship or something similar.   
The controls seemed easy enough for her to master, and what she didn't know she figured Trunks did. He seemed to have the gift for technical knowledge that his mother did. He was a rarity, in a way; looks, power, and intelligence all wrapped up into one.   
Now if he could just do something about that bleeding heart of his.   
It wasn't that she minded him being compassionate. It had it's uses, and he had been raised with the overly empathetic humans, after all; but there were points in time where she knew it would get in the way.   
She had the sudden feeling that she was no longer alone in her own head. The crystal around her neck had gotten a little warmer under the T-shirt she wore, laying heavily on her skin. _Oh, so you're awake , _she thought at the presence.   
The presence came from the crystal she wore about her neck. It was, in a sense, the last remaining one of its kind, but at the same time, all of its kind. The crystal's intelligence was from an unnamed planet that Endive had the bad -or good, depending on the perspective- fortune of crashing on after a collision with an asteroid. Her ship had been damaged, so she'd ended up staying there for some time to fix it. The crystals helped. She'd fought with the intelligence of the calm, fine, and beautiful creatures at first, then grew up a bit in her time there. She mellowed.   
Endive actually had only a little to do with the final destruction of the planet. It was being torn apart by its own internal stresses, a fact which the crystals knew long before she did. They had been preparing for it. Her ship was fixed by then, and so, with this specially prepared crystal, she left. The crystals shared a single consciousness. If one survived, so, in a sense, did all the others. Following their instructions to complete the transformation, she dealt the final blow to the dying planet, and escaped only just in time.   
She'd heard little out of the crystal since she'd awakened. The last time they had communicated had been after she'd awakened in the bedroom prison Trunks and Bulma had put her in. The Saiya-jin wasn't exactly sure what the crystal did in the meantime; dream, meditate, or simply watch. It seemed to awaken when it wanted to, or when she nudged it.   
There was a feeling of agreement. Communicating with this peculiar creature was a unique experience. It preferred to speak with feelings rather than words, and for some reason, it interpreted emotions as different colors. Endive had learned quite a lot from it, including the language. It was quite helpful, too. It had numerous powers, and had helped her escape from the room she'd been locked in after she recovered. Of course, she wasn't going to tell either of them about it.   
She waited a moment, and when she felt nothing more forthcoming from it, yet didn't feel it withdraw, she decided to get on with business.   
She stalked to the hatch, face set in a scowl. Outside stood Bulma, hugging Trunks and telling him all those little things mothers think of to say at the last moment. Endive sneered. "Damnit woman, will you stop mothering him so we can get on with this? He's a big boy, he can take care of himself. Besides, the sooner we leave, the sooner he returns."   
Trunks was blushing a little and looking embarrassed. She wasn't sure about what. Bulma frowned at Endive and looked like she was about to open her mouth to say something when Trunks pulled his mother into a brief hug, then climbed up into the hatch and looked down at her. "She's right, Mom. Don't worry about me. I'll be back soon."   
Enough of this, Endive thought. She walked away from the hatch, leaving Trunks to reassure his mother alone. She went to the control panel, and fired up the ship.   
There was a low hum, which quickly turned to a louder roar. If they hadn't finished their good-byes yet, then they weren't going to, she supposed. She was surprised Bulma was going to let Trunks go through with this. Then again. . . what could she do to stop him?   
Not much.   
Endive sat down in one of the chairs, hands resting on the arms, counting slowly to ten. By the time she reached eight, she heard the hatch slam shut, then Trunks walked in. He looked a bit nervous, but still set on going.   
"Is your mother clear?"   
"Yeah."   
"Then take a seat and buckle in." He did, and she followed her own advice and buckled in. She had taken the chair with the main controls on it. She set for launch.   
The rumbling increased for a moment, and there was the sensation of movement as the ship lifted. Endive watched this though the main screen; the slow rise of the ship, a higher perspective on the world outside. This followed by a blast, then the sensation of being pulled downward, and a blur on the screen of the world outside as they shot upward. Impressive. The ship blasted off without a problem.   
Endive remained seated for a while, leaning her head against the high back of the chair, looking bored out of her mind. Trunks watched the changes that took place to the scenery as they moved out of the atmosphere and into space. There was a soft hum, then a click, and the computer announced a quiet feminine voice that it was turning on the gravity. The Saiya-jin sighed and set a destination with some coordinates she recalled from quite some time before, then unbuckled her restraints once it was done and stretched. "Finally," she muttered, then wandered off to explore the rest of the ship.   



	11. Chapter Eleven

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Eleven **_Chapter Eleven_**

The ship was round, and built into two accessible levels. The top level was mostly for controls, computer systems, and the sleeping and living quarters. The second level had a training room on it. Endive was mildly impressed with it. The level of gravity in this room alone could be lowered or raised, and there were targets that seemed to be meant to help improve agility and speed. Endive intended on spending a little time in this room; perhaps on the more boring days, the days she got sick of just staring out at the blackness.   
She wandered into the room the sleeping quarters were housed in, and arched a brow. Nice set up. They were built into the wall, long enough for someone a little over six feet to sleep comfortably in, each closed off in the front by curtains. There were three of them, one for her, one for Trunks, and a spare. Maybe Bulma thought she might be bringing someone back with her? Unlikely.   
After drawing back the heavy curtain on one, she peered inside. It was, indeed, built into the wall. The bed itself was only wide enough for one person to sleep comfortably, and only if that person didn't flop around or lie spread all over. At the head end was a light, and at the opposite a small monitor of some kind, possibly for correspondence.   
She nearly burst out laughing when she realized the width of the bed. Was this a way of Bulma's to ensure nothing happened between them? She shook her head in disgust and turned to go to the training room. Not bloody likely, that was for sure.   
There were several lockers in the small hall entrance to the training room. One had her name, and the other Trunks' name, and the last was blank. Endive stopped and prowled through the one with her name on it, and was surprised to find what looked remarkably like Saiya-jin fighting jackets (armor) in them, even the snug fitting suits of black or blue to go under them. She found the boots next, and even gloves; she never cared for gloves, though. She always burned holes in them.   
She pulled on one of the fighting jackets. It fit well. Apparently this had even been designed a little more pliable to fit the female form.   
Trunks walked in then, and looked at her for a moment. She arched a brow at the lavender haired boy, and tipped her head in a gesture towards the locker with his name. "Your mom made some for you, too. For all purposes, it looks and acts like Saiya-jin armor." The jacket wasn't that comfortable over her tank top and with the jeans she wore. She had to unwrap her tail from her waist to get it to fit properly without the jumpsuit on, but it seemed to be working well. Of course, she couldn't know for sure until she took a blast with it. She hoped she wouldn't be doing that soon.   
Endive struggled out of it, wiggling around to get it off over her head. "Of course, it fits better with the suits under it, I'm sure," she said, though it was a bit muffled. She finally got it off and gave her head a shake to toss her hair out of her face, then glanced at him. "Oh yes. . . by the way, for all purposes on any planet we visit, you are a full blooded Saiya-jin unless I tell you otherwise. If you happen to meet anyone that realizes that you're missing your tail, it was lost in an accident. Is that clear?"   
"Think you could give me any more orders?" he had his armor out now and was stretching it, testing it out. She pulled out a pair of boots and the jumpsuit to go along with the jacket, and arched a brow at him.   
"Don't tempt me," she said, "or else I'll put you to scrubbing the floor with that pretty purple hair." This said, she turned and strode away to put the armor on.   



	12. Chapter Twelve

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Twelve **_Chapter Twelve_**

Space was even more beautiful than he'd imagined it would be. A pitch black velvety expanse flecked with the lights of stars, near and far; the slightly fuzzy lights of distant galaxies; the rocky tumbling of asteroids and meteors; and now and again the glow of a comet as it passed close to a star. There was a serenity to it, a silence that seemed to envelop him even as he stood in front of the viewing window of the ship, looking out. He wasn't even thinking now. He just was, and let the silence wrap around him, deadening his ears to the hums and whirrs of the ship.   
After he and Endive had changed into the Saiya-jin armor, they hadn't said much of anything to each other. He'd stood in front of the window, watching space go by them, and she'd draped herself over a chair, and sat there now holding that necklace up, staring thoughtfully at the pendant.   
It was so strange. It seemed they were going so slow, but he knew they were really going very, very fast. He was glad that space wasn't zipping past them, though. It gave him more time to watch, more time to see.   
Endive reminded him a little of his father. She wasn't quite so cold, not so fixed on power alone that she was blinded to everything else, but she did share that same distant coolness. He had to pry to get any details out of her. He wasn't sure if she didn't want to tell him anything because there was something particularly nasty about what she might have done, or if she were simply afraid to open herself to anything. Or maybe she just didn't want to? That was likely. . . but why wouldn't she want to? He was there to help her find whoever she was looking for. In order to do that, he needed a few details.   
Trunks turned to look at Endive. She'd put the pendant away and sat in the chair with her arms folded across her chest, crossed legs dangling over one arm of the chair, head tipped back to look at the ceiling. She'd chosen the black spandex suit to go under the armor; it gave her a very lean, sleek look. "Are you going to tell me anything more about whoever you're looking for?"   
She blinked and turned her head to look at him, fixing him with a cool gaze. "What do you want to know?"   
He folded his arms and frowned at her. "Everything I should know. His name, what he looks like, some of your past history together. Are you hiding something? You haven't told me anything, Endive."   
The Saiya-jin stared at him for so long and coolly that he imagined ice crystals forming in the air between them. Finally she sighed and tipped her head back again, and closed her eyes. "No, I'm not hiding anything. There's nothing to hide. He was a friend of mine. His name was Amian, and he is an Ikomian. Tall, pale skin with a bluish sheen, purple hair and green eyes. I met him on the parasite ship. He'd only been there a few days longer than I. We teamed up and destroyed the parasite infecting the main computer, thereby shutting down most of the rest since they didn't have the computer to take orders from. There were several that didn't need the computer, though, and when I made the stupid mistake of crouching over one I thought was dead to try to find the keys to the cells, he punched a hole in my stomach. That's how I ended up in the suspension tank. Amian was supposed to take me to a place he knew that had the capabilities to fix such a wound, but I guess something happened in the meantime. I closed my eyes in the tank, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in that little prison of a room you and your mother put me in."   
Trunks was still and silent for a minute. He'd never heard her say so much at one time. "How _did_ you get out of there anyway? The room, I mean?"   
Endive smirked, seeming only amused by his question. She opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. "Never ask a woman about her secrets, Trunks. I've told you what you need to know. Now tell me a bit about your father."   
"My father? Oh. . . he died when I was a baby. I don't really remember him.."   
One of those finely arched black brows lifted. "I was under the impression that you knew him."   
"I do," he said quickly. "Or I did. It's a long story. I did know him, but not in this timeline. It gets complicated."   
She opened her mouth as if to say something else, then shook her head slightly and closed it. "So what do you think of space?"   
"It's better than I imagined it."   
Endive tipped her head to one side to look a the window. She didn't seem impressed. "Then how badly did you imagine it?"   
Trunks looked at her, then at the window. "You're telling me you aren't affected at all by the beauty of it? The serenity?"   
"It is beautiful. I will give you that. But it's really anything but serene. Every moment, planets and stars die, and new ones form. Life grows and changes on planets, and old life dies. The universe creates even as it destroys. Keep in mind that it is never really serene, no matter how silent it might seem."   
"You're a pessimist."   
"Of course I am. I'm a Saiya-jin."   
That seemed to be the end of that. She was toying with the crescent necklace again, her eyes narrowed slightly with thought.   
He looked back a the viewing screen. She was right. There was death and destruction and life and growth going on every second. Still, that made it no less beautiful. It followed the same cycles as everything else.   
He went back to the window and looked out for a while longer, but this time his mind wasn't drifting so much. He wondered if this Amian was still alive. He wondered if this trip was all going to be for nothing. He wondered what Endive intended on doing if it was, and what she intended on doing afterward. He wondered if she and Amian might have been more than friends, or close to it. He wondered why he wondered that, and felt a little jealousy with it.   
The chair behind him creaked softly as Endive got up. He heard her light footsteps as she left the room.   
There was no reason for him to be even a little jealous. Endive wouldn't be right for him, and he knew it. They would probably end up fighting constantly, and they were too different. The image of his mother and father of the past flickered through his mind. Opposites could attract, couldn't they? Yes. . . but that didn't make it right. Endive was a cool-headed and -hearted woman. She didn't share emotions, and didn't say much more than she had to. . . unless she wanted something.   
He thought of how she'd invited him to go with her. What was the reason behind that? Did she have a plan for him, or did she just enjoy his company? True, they'd spent quite a bit of time together lately. They were friends, if a little uneasy about it. Was there a reason behind that, too?   
He just didn't know.   



	13. Chapter Thirteen

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Thirteen **_Chapter Thirteen_**

Endive stalked out onto the ramp extending from the hatchway, and stood with her arms folded, looking out at the planet. They'd been to three previously, and had no luck at all on the first two; someone on the third had recommended coming here. There were always those here that had information, she'd said. So Endive, with gritted teeth, had set the coordinates for this planet, Takanei.   
If they found nothing here, then she would be out of good ideas. Otherwise, they would be bouncing from planet to planet until they found a lead. She wasn't in the best of moods; irritable to say the least.   
Trunks stepped out beside her and looked out on the planet for a minute in silence, before finally quietly saying, "Wow."   
If the planet had any large vegetation, it had been wiped out by the creatures that inhabited this place. From where she stood, she couldn't see anything but dead, brown looking weeds and a few little spikey patches of grass, or what she thought was grass. It was stained red, with little bits of purple at the top edges and the root. The air around them was dusty and smoggy and burned the lungs for the first few breaths; whether it was pollution or just a difference in the atmosphere, she didn't know.   
It looked like one huge bazaar. There were little booths set up everywhere along the crowded "streets," and there were filthy looking "merchants" of every kind hawking their wares. There were quite a few other creatures that slipped in and out from between the "people" crowding the narrow, dusty streets, and Endive was willing to be the ship that they were thieves.   
Around those with sticky fingers, she wasn't going to leave the ship alone. She turned and looked at Trunks. "Stay here with the ship. I'll be back soon."   
Trunks looked at her and frowned. "You don't want me to go with you?"   
She grabbed him by the strap of his armor and drug him closer, nearly shoulder to shoulder with her. She tipped her head in a gesture towards the crowd. "This is a crowded place, Trunks. There are merchants here, and there are people that are going to spend money -or whatever they happen to use as payment- on their goods. That means there are thieves in the crowd too. I'd like to be able to leave this disgusting planet. That means we have to have the ship. I know what I'm looking for, so I have to go. You can stay here and watch the ship, and crack the skulls of anyone that tries to take it. Understand?"   
He wasn't happy with it, but he finally agreed. Endive walked down the ramp and plunged into the crowd. 

* * * * * * * * * * 

She finally had a lead. Someone that might know Ikomia's coordinates. Her brows were drawn together in a scowl, and she pushed her way roughly through the crowd. Once or twice she'd grabbed at ghostly fingers, and once she'd even managed to get hold of hand -or it was similar to a hand, given that it only had three long, nimble fingers on it. She'd broken them, then went on her way.   
The merchant had said to look for a little man with rust colored hair and that he wore tiny goggles all the time. His name was Bakani, and he lingered around a drinking place called the Red Star.   
It took a while of getting lost, taking detours and wrong directions, and finally having to fly up above the place for a look before she found it. She spotted the sign from the air. It was a hideous thing, bright yellow neon lettering with a red star under it in several layers. It make an electrical buzz as it the light shifted between the layers, giving an exploding effect. Endive set herself lightly down on her feet in front of it, then shouldered open the door and went in.   
It probably would have been impossible for the interior to be anymore dirty. There were bottles and cups and other materials she couldn't (and probably wouldn't want) to identify lying strewn about. There was a layer of dirt over everything, and what looked like a layer of scum over all the liquids. The air was smokey and stank worse than the air outside Patrons of every kind inhabited the place. The only thing they seemed to have in common was that they were filthy, scabrous, and parasite ridden.   
Endive decided to find Bakani and get out of this hellhole.   
She managed to get up to the bar without touching anyone or anything. She folded her arms tight and glared at the keep, a stout, more insect than human looking creature. "I'm looking for someone named Bakani," she said.   
The keep pointed with a pincher towards a little man hunched up at one end of the bar. He was smoking something that smelled even worse than it looked, and he occasionally scratched at his matted, rust colored hair. She nodded and stepped over to him, but kept her distance, hoping to let him keep most of his lice.   
"You're Bakani?" she asked, folding her arms, tipping her chin back haughtily.   
He peered at her through the strange thick lensed little goggles he wore, looked her up and down, then nodded. "Yeah," he said. "What c'n I do f'r you?"   
Endive was tempted to remove both his eyes and the lenses of those goggles with one shot. "I'm looking for information."   
"Weeeel. . ." he scratched at his grizzled chin, then flashed a gap toothed, green and brown grin. "I s'pose I could held you there. Anythin' fer a lady."   
She restrained her disgust and glanced around, then tipped her head back towards the door. "Outside. Much longer in here and I'll choke on the fumes." Without waiting for him, she turned and went out the way she came, being careful not to brush against anyone.   
The little man wandered out a few seconds later. She stood still, waiting, watching those around her. This street wasn't as crowded as the others, or perhaps they were simply avoiding this part of the road for some reason. It was fine with her.   
"Ikomia," she said before he could open his mouth. "Do you know the location?"   
"Hrmm. . ." he scratched at his chin again. "Yeah, methinks I do. But in-fro-mation's got a price, ye know," he said, drawing out and mispronouncing "information."   
"And what might yours be?" she put on a bored exterior, though in truth, she was contemplating what she might even be able to give him. It wasn't as if they'd brought much.   
"Weeel. . . Word gets around fast here, ye know? You've got an awful nice ship. . . and a pretty crewman."   
Endive sighed and arched a brow at him. Her patience was wearing very, very thin. "State your price, or I'll find my information elsewhere."   
"You won't find nobody that would ask less than me. Your ship and the boy."   
The hard stare she gave him made him rethink that price. "Just the boy."   
"No."   
"The ship."   
"No."   
"Weeel, then. . ." he reached out and up surprisingly fast, and even managed to get his grubby fingers on the crystal around her neck. "How's 'bout this?"   
That did it. Endive grabbed him by the hand and gave a sharp pull and twist. The next thing Bakani knew, his arm was painfully pinned behind his back, and his head was shoved against the wall. "You will get nothing, you little lice infested bastard. Tell me where it is, before I start to break you fingers one by one."   
Bakani whimpered and whined something, twisting around in her grip. Endive didn't hear it, and wouldn't have understood it if she had. She was nudging the crystal with her mind, trying to drag it to wakefulness. There was the questioning feeling in her head, along with that thread of alien consciousness. _I need you to tell me if he's truthful or lying,_ she said. The crystal understood what colors she associated with truth and lies, and therefore understood a little more about the feelings. There was an agreeing feeling, then the near sensation of someone else in her head looking out.   
Endive tightened her grip and pulled up on his arm to get her point across. "Tell me."   
He whined out a set of coordinates. The Saiya-jin received an image of Bakani's form in silhouette. The inside of the silhouette was dirty yellow with shards and bursts of black and a very nasty purple. Nonchalantly, Endive snapped one of his fingers, renewing his shrieks. "You're lying. Try again," she said.   
He babbled out another set, and she received the same silhouetted image. Again, Endive broke one of his fingers, this one the little one. "Again," she said.   
Bakani whined and blubbered. She realized with disgust that he was crying. When she threatened to break another because he wouldn't speak, he finally screamed a set of coordinates.   
The image was blue with hints of grey and white in it. Truth.   
Endive repeated the coordinates, checking them, then dropped him to the ground as she stepped back. He turned over to put his back to the wall and look at her, and clutched his hand to his chest, all the while sputtering how crazy she was. She treated him to a tight-lipped, icy and feral little smile, then turned and walked away.   
She was almost at the end of the street before she felt the pound of the footsteps, and he began to howl. She dropped to a low crouch just in time for him to go soaring over her head.   
Bakani landed in a tumbling roll in front of her, and didn't stop until he smacked into the side of a building. She approached him and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up to stare at him. He pried at her hand and flailed around. Endive didn't realize that he'd have a knife in his hand until it struck her upper arm, slicing a hole in the black of her suit and letting red blood flow free. It burned, but she didn't think it was that deep, and didn't make her loosen her grip.   
"Blood for blood, eh?" she said, and struck him across the face with her fist. It wasn't that heavy a blow, but it blooded his mouth and nose and sent a few of his disgusting teeth flying. "You're lucky you put me in a good mood, Bakani. Otherwise I'd kill you now." He'd turned purple in the face, along with the red of blood. She let go of his throat, letting him drop to a crumpled heap on the ground against the wall. He slumped down, head fallen forward, freely bleeding over his already filthy clothes.   
Endive glanced around lazily, ignoring the slice on her upper arm, looking almost innocent. Where now? Back to the ship, and to Ikomia. A smirk tugged at her lips, and she lifted into the air and flew back towards the ship.   



	14. Chapter Fourteen

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Fourteen **_Chapter Fourteen_**

Bakani woke in a red haze. His face was sticky with what felt like glue, and his mouth, nose and the left side of his face felt like someone had taken a hammer to them. Blearily he blinked and looked around.   
He was on a street, and he recognized it as not being far from the Red Star. What had happened? He gingerly touched the his aching face, and his fingers came away red with blood. Not to mention that the last two fingers of his hand had gone numb and were bent at od angles.   
His knife was clutched in his other hand. He looked at it, and found it still stained red with blood. Not long ago, then. It felt better to stay still for a few minutes. Maybe he could remember what happened, then.   
There was someone that asked him for something, coordinates to a planet. . . a girl? No, no ordinary girl. She had tail around her waist. A Saiya-jin. The black haired bitch had asked him for coordinates, and refused to pay him. She'd tortured the information out of him, then beaten him when he tried to defend himself.   
But he had some of her blood, and he knew what to do with it. All he had to do now was call in a debt. . . It would take some time, but he would have his revenge for this short.   
Bakani climbed painfully to his feet and staggered away down the dusty road. 

* * * * * * * * * * 

"How long do you think it will take us to get there?" Trunks asked. He leaned lightly against the viewing window. Endive sat draped over her chair again, no longer wearing the Saiya-jin armor. She was wearing the tank top and jeans she'd been wearing when the first set off. Currently, she was wrapping a slim length of gauze over the slash on her upper arm. When he'd asked her how she got it, she'd said it was part of the "business transaction."   
"I'm not sure. I don't think we're far from it. A few days, maybe. I'm hoping that it won't be longer than a week."   
There was a minute of silence. Apparently Endive could feel that Trunks wanted to ask something, because she said, "Go ahead and say whatever it is trying to beat its way out from between your teeth."   
He felt the warmth of a blush in his cheeks and ducked his head a little, trying to cover it up and ignore it at once. "I just. . . I was wondering what you were going to do when -if- you find this Amian."   
A few seconds of quiet followed, and he looked up at her. She was quiet, her head tipped back a bit, grey eyes distant with thought. "I honestly can't say."   
"You don't know? I thought maybe-"   
"That I was going to stay on Ikomia? That something could flare up between Amian and I?" One of her brows lifted a bit as she looked at him. His blush was confirmation enough for her. "Don't count on it, Trunks. I don't know what I intend to do, or even if I will find him. He could have died years ago. I won't know until I get there."   
"Yeah." he sighed   
"So don't worry yourself about it. As eager as you might be to get rid of me, you're stuck with me a few days yet." She stretched her legs, then rose from the chair and walked away. "I'm going for a nap."   
Was that what she thought of him? That he wanted to get rid of her? He frowned as he thought about it, turning to look at the window, but not seeing anything beyond. Trunks wasn't sure what he thought of Endive. It seemed that she made him change his opinion of her every day, and with those changes always seemed to come different feelings, sometimes positive, sometimes negative, always confusing. He was sure they could become good friends if she allowed it. But would she open herself enough to do so?   
  



	15. Chapter Fifteen

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Fifteen **_Chapter Fifteen_**

Two days later, the pair landed on the planet the coordinates indicated. It was lush and green, and might have been called tropical if it hadn't been a temperate climate. The sounds of birds and insects reached their ears when they stepped out for a look around. "You're sure this is it?" Trunks asked.   
Endive glanced at him and shrugged. They were both wearing the Saiya-jin armor again, she in black, he in blue. "One way to find out. Let's go to the village we say indicated with the equipment."   
Without even waiting for his reply, she lifted up into the air and began flying towards it. He followed easily. He could outrun her easily if he wanted to, she knew. He allowed her to set the pace. It was nothing extreme. A knot of tension had formed in her stomach, and her mind raced as she wondered what to expect.   
She had little doubt that they were on the right planet; the question was, was Amian even alive? Did he ever make it back to Ikomia? She would find out if she had to circle this entire bloody planet several times.   
The two of them set down outside of the village. They didn't want to alarm the natives by landing in the middle of it. She wasn't sure what sort of reception they'd get, but they were about to find out.   
Endive led the way into the village, her stride confident, head held high. It didn't show that her pulse was quickening, her nerves twanging. She could see a few of the natives outside. Males and females that made her think that perhaps Amian had been typical of the race after all. Tall and lean, the same iridescent skin, and thick manes of varying shades of violet and blue and silver and black, eyes all startling colors.   
They looked up curiously as she and Trunks approached, but didn't show any signs of alarm. Endive stopped a little away and put a hand on her hip. She tipped her head to the side as she looked around at them, then spoke. "What planet is this?"   
"Ikomia." The one that spoke looked mildly amused that she didn't know. He was the eldest those present.   
Endive felt like part of a weight had been lifted from her chest. "Good. I'm looking for someone. An Ikomian named Amian. Do you know him?"   
They looked around at each other, then the eldest shook his head. "No. But there is another village to the west where you might ask."   
She nodded, and without a word turned and strode back to Trunks. He'd lingered back a bit, close enough to be in earshot, but not close enough to be overly imposing. Or as imposing as he could be without going Super Saiya-jin, anyway.   
"Come on," she said, then took off. He followed, and they quickly went to the next village. 

* * * * * * * * * * 

Endive was no longer so sure that Amian was alive, or that he was on Ikomia if he was. She and Trunks had been to four villages; so far, they'd turned up nothing but the suggestion to try another village. She was losing patience, and whatever hope she had.   
They set down in the fifth village. As before, Trunks lingered behind her, letting her do the talking. She put on the same show she had previously; the show of confidence, cool-headedness. The show that nothing was wrong, that she wasn't feeling frustrated and high-strung.   
There was one of the Ikomians outside working with an animal of some type. She looked up at Endive's approach, and watched the Saiya-jin curiously. "I'm looking for someone," Endive repeated just as she had several times before. "His name is Amian. Do you know of him?" Endive thought her own voice sounded bored as she spoke.   
To her surprise, the female she was confronted with nodded. "Yes. . . I'll go and get him." She turned and walked into one of the scattered homes built around. They were probably two or three stories, painted varying shades of blue, green, and white. Picturesque would be the right word for them, Endive supposed.   
The Saiya-jin female turned to look at Trunks. He looked back at her, and she thought she saw a hint of a smile around his lips. She reached into her sleeve around her wrist and unwrapped the necklace with the crescent pendant on it. Since she had no pockets, she'd wound it about her wrist for safe keeping. She held it in her hand, and didn't realize how tightly she was holding it until she glanced at her white knuckled hand and loosened her grip.   
A taller male walked out of the house, with the female beside him. Something about them, about the way they looked at each other, the way they talked. . . Endive realized she was looking at the male's mate. When he looked at her, Endive realized that she was, indeed, face to face with Amian.   
Thirty years. It had been thirty years.   
He didn't seem to recognize her.   
He had a few more lines around his face, and he might not have been quite so lean anymore, but it was impossible to mistake him for someone else. He stopped a few feet away from her, looking at her, apparently waiting for her to say something.   
A pair of children ran giggling out of the house and after one another, apparently playing a game of chase.   
She felt something like a shock go through her. She realized that this was not the person she knew so long ago. Oh, he was indeed Amian, but he was not the same Ikomian she met on the parasite ship.   
This was an older, calmer Amian, one that had taken a mate and had children. This was an Amian that exuded a sense of contentment rather than a hunger for adventure.   
She didn't know him. He didn't know her. They were each looking a stranger in the face.   
These thoughts passed through her mind in a matter of seconds. He looked at her for a moment, and after she said nothing, he opened his mouth to speak. Endive found her tongue then, and said, "This is yours." She held the pendant out to him. Looking surprised, he reached out and took it.   
Endive let it drop before she was even sure he had it in his hand, then turned quickly on her heel and strode towards Trunks. She grabbed him by the arm and started walking away, speaking as she did. "Come on. Let's get you home."   



	16. Chapter Sixteen

"After the Sleeper Woke Up" - Chapter Sixteen **_Chapter Sixteen_**

On the ship, Trunks found Endive sitting in front of one of the smaller windows. Her legs were drawn up so that she could wrap her arms about her shins, but not so tightly drawn so that her knees were beneath her chin. She was staring out at space, and had been quiet since they left Ikomia.   
Trunks was a little confused by her behavior. He had expected her to do something more than just give Amian back the necklace, but he was sure she had a reason for it. Maybe she saw something in those last minutes when she looked him in the face, or maybe she didn't see something. Either way, it seemed to bother her..   
And whatever it was, he wanted to find out.   
He didn't mind so much that they'd gone so far and walked away with nothing. He hadn't known what to expect himself, and he'd wanted to see space more than anything. He couldn't really complain. He wondered what his mother would say when she found out what had happened.   
Trunks sat down near her, close enough that he could look out the window too, but not so close as to make either of them uncomfortable. Under normal circumstances, Endive probably would have said something about him inviting himself to join her; now she said absolutely nothing, and didn't even acknowledge his presence.   
He stayed quiet for a time, then said, "It wasn't what you expected?"   
Endive stayed quiet for so long that he was starting to think she wasn't going to answer. Finally she said, "I don't know what I expected."   
"But you had to have expected something, Endive."   
Quiet again, then, "Maybe I did. But what I found wasn't what I expected. I expected to see someone I knew. I found a total stranger that I don't think even recognized me."   
Trunks was starting to understand a little better, now. He thought maybe Endive was feeling out of place. Amian might have been to her a link to a time before she was put in suspension, before she was put so out of sorts and out of place. But Amian wasn't that link. He was a total stranger to her now. When Trunks thought about it like that, he had a feeling he would probably feel much the same as she did.   
"So what are you going to do now?"   
"I have no idea."   
The half-Saiya-jin stayed quiet for a moment. "You could come back to Earth for a while. You don't have to stay long, if you don't want. Long enough to decide what to do, at least." Endive looked at him, her eyes unreadable. Trunks felt himself blush a little under the weight of that gaze. "Besides," he said quickly, looking out the window to try and cover it, "a good sparring partner is hard to come by."   
She looked at him for a few more moments, and he finally looked back at her. She smiled. It occurred to him that this was the first time he'd ever seen her really smile. "Yes, maybe I will. . . for a little while." 

**_End_**   
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End file.
